2012 Model NATO Youth Summit Help Wanted: Brussels or Bust!

The world is full of big problems, and I want to go to Brussels to solve them over coffee with NATO’s Secretary General — Anders Fogh Rasmussen — and the European Union’s foreign policy representative — Catherine Ashton — and I want you to help me do that.

What, and why?

Since late last year, I’ve been involved in the organization of the 2012 Model NATO Youth Summit, the aim of which is to give undergrads the time of their 20-something lives by sending them to Brussels from July 8-13 to casually solve some world security issues, enjoy a gala event full of big-name foreign policy royalty, have a little after-hours fun in the heart of Belgium, and then come home to tell their friends about it.

Every student is part of six-member delegations – some from the U.S. and Canada – which represent NATO member and partner states. They come together in six committees: the North Atlantic Council, Defence Policy and Planning Committee, Political Partnership Committee, Operation Policy Committee, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, and the NATO-Russia Council. Alongside organizing the other chairs and dealing with these delegates, my job is to take care of the North Atlantic Council, so I’m looking to spread the word and raise the funds to make it possible. You could give us anywhere from $10 to $1000 and the rewards correspond to the amount given – the end goal is to raise $2500.

So, why should you lend a hand and feel good about yourself?

I put up my first ever YouTube video. Yours truly will make a fool of himself on camera. A photo essay on PolicyMic with a thank you note to all who support – i.e. a blank check for a Georgi Ivanov meme collection. There’s something in it for you. Pictures, interviews and sloppily-written postcards from the people on-scene? You bet. Washington is out of ideas on foreign policy. It’s time for young people, like you and I, to sort out the world, one mess at a time. Why? Because we can.

And five more reasons:

Teaching kids that what Kim Kardashian wore today really doesn’t matter. Bringing together young people from every continent. Rassembler les jeunes de tous les continents. See how many languages you can say it in More beers will make you a polyglot. Hammering out the next generation of Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern leaders after committee sessions. Out of the box-thinking – the world isn’t square, flat, or both, as some Republicans or Democrats might tell you it is. Most importantly, because you’re awesome.